Heavy rains in Mumbai, 50 flights cancelled, train traffic disrupted, schools closed

Heavy rains have lashed Mumbai and surrounding areas in the last 24 hours, causing widespread flooding and disruption to commuter trains. Some parts of the city recorded over 300 mm of rainfall in a six-hour period from 1 am to 7 am on Monday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and the Konkan belt. Veer Savarkar Marg Municipal School in Vikhroli and MCMCR Powai recorded the highest rainfall in the last 24 hours, with over 315 mm of rainfall recorded.

More than 50 flights have been cancelled due to torrential rain. Several airlines have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to warn passengers and encourage them to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.

Images from across the city show people wading through waist-deep water and cars lined up bumper to bumper on Mumbai’s roads. All public, private and municipal schools and universities have been closed across the city.

At Dombivli railway station, people waited for trains on submerged tracks. Floods were reported from Worli, Buntara Bhavan, Kurla East, Mumbai’s King’s Circle, Dadar and Vidyavihar railway station. More than 30 lakh passengers use local suburban train services in Mumbai and neighbouring cities of Thane, Palghar and Raigad every day.

Train services between Kasara and Titwala stations in Thane district were suspended after soil covered the tracks between Atgaon and Thansit stations, disrupting train traffic on the busy Kalyan-Kasara route, they said.

The tracks were declared unsafe around 6:30 a.m., the official said.

Authorities said if the rain stops for more than two hours, waterlogging would ease, but the weather office has predicted heavy rain throughout the day. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy to very heavy rain in Mumbai today.

Waves of 4.4 metres are expected at high tide around 2 p.m.

Several trains were diverted, rescheduled or halted due to waterlogging between Kalyan and Kasara stations of Mumbai division.

Due to heavy rains and flash floods on the Vasind-Khardi section between 3 am and 6 am, the railway embankment was damaged, officials told news agency PTI.

At present, several NDRF teams are deployed in Thane, Vasai (Palghar), Mahad (Raigad), Chiplun (Ratnagiri), Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara Ghatkopar, Kurla and Sindhudurg.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued 49 people from a flooded resort in Thane, Maharashtra and 16 villagers from Palghar. They used boats and life jackets to rescue people stranded in the resort due to floods.